Episode 908 - 10 Chefs Compete
The eighth episode of Season 9 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX on August 9, 2011. On that episode, Unexpected leaders were named, a funny reward happened, and one chef's injury annoyed their teammates and Ramsay. Intro During the episode recap, Krupa received the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence for the first time since her elimination. Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay expresses concern that none of them have shown any leadership so far and asked each team to nominate a person with the best leadership skills the following morning. While going back to the dorms, Elizabeth knew that a leader could pull the red team together, while Jennifer was shocked that Elise and Elizabeth chose her as the leader immediately. On the blue side, Paul considered Will the leader of the blue team, and Jonathon and Natalie also nominated Will for helping everybody so far. Will felt honored, promised to take the blue team to the promised land, and was willing to become the front runner. Meanwhile, Carrie decided to vote for herself as the leader, but Elise found that ridiculous as she felt the former could not even lead a horse to water. However, that led to yet another argument between Elise and Carrie, leaving Jennifer to wonder if she could manage an infighting team. Team challenge The next day, both teams came downstairs with the blue team naming Will as their leader, and the red team naming Jennifer as their leader. Then, Ramsay explained that the qualities of a great leader was to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their teams, before asking Jennifer and Will who they felt was the weakest leader in their teams. Jennifer deemed Carrie the weakest, which the latter argued against, while Will deemed Tommy the weakest for not being vocal, even though the latter disagreed. After, Ramsay said that he would give Carrie and Tommy a chance to prove their teams wrong with the American Classics Challenge, where both teams would cook five American based dishes and turn them into upscaled dishes. Tommy and Carrie’s roles were to delegate what dishes their teammates would be cooking, along with their own ideas on the dishes themselves. The chefs had 45 minutes to cook their American dishes which included hamburger, chicken noodle soup, cobb salad, pizza, and spaghetti and meatballs. Carrie immediately gave her teammates what to cook, but Elise was not happy as she wanted the pizza instead of the former. In the blue kitchen, Tommy was slow on who was cooking what, irritating Paul, and the blue team instead grabbed what they wanted to work with. In addition, Tommy’s suggestion on a flatbread pizza confused Jonathon. In the red kitchen, Carrie’s micromanagement was beginning to irritate her teammates, with Elise calling the former the worst leader for that challenge. 5 minutes left, Jonathon did not have his pizza in the oven due to Tommy’s lack of leadership, and the two hustled to try and get it ready. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time. Wolfgang Puck came in as a guest judge, leaving Jennifer speechless as the former was a culinary legend. Jamie and Tommy were up first with their burgers, and the former presented her lamb burger sliders with a red onion confiture and rosemary garlic oil. While the dish was criticized for being overdone, it was praised for having strong flavors along with the sweet and sour components with Jamie calling it one of the best compliments she received. After, Tommy’s Japanese soy caramel burger was criticized for lacking color in comparison to his arm, and for lacking the wow in the flavor. Jamie won that round, and the red team led 1-0. On the cobb salad round, Elizabeth’s traditional cobb salad with honey Dijon dressing was praised for the taste, but criticized for the clunky presentation, while Natalie’s salmon cobb salad was criticized for not being a traditional cobb salad, but Puck said that he would serve the dish at his restaurant if he changed the name. Natalie won that round, the score was tied at 1 each, and Elizabeth was confused why she lost to a salmon entrée. On the spaghetti and meatball round, Elise’s dish was criticized for looking like a mess, with Puck even asking her if she dropped it at one point, while Will’s dish was criticized for having the entire pasta lifted with one fork movement due to the lack of salt, and neither of them scored. On the chicken noodle soup round, Jennifer’s South western chicken noodle soup was deemed a good soup, and while Paul’s Italian styled chicken noodle soup was praised for the presentation, it was criticized for a flat flavor profile. So, Jennifer won that round, the red team led 2-1, and she was happy that Puck did not toss her dish into the trash. On the final round, while Carrie went up with her pizza, Jonathon was reluctant until the blue team and Ramsay pushed him. Carrie’s shrimp, basil pesto pizza was criticized for both looking and tasting raw, and she was left embarrassed, with Paul hoping that the blue team could pull it out. However, Jonathon’s flatbread pizza was criticized for looking like an Italian crime, having ingredients not needed for a pizza, and when he argued that he had no input on the creative side, Tommy argued that it could have been a great pizza had the dish be made properly. Jonathon’s dish was sent back without being tasted, and after returning to his team, he complained that he got fucked by Tommy again, and was made into an asshole. Neither Jonathon and Carrie scored that round, but the red team won the challenge 2-1. While Carrie felt that the victory was because of herself, Elise remarked that the former had nothing to celebrate as she did not contribute to their victory, while Jonathon called Tommy a shit leader. Reward The red team was rewarded with a day out in Los Angeles, and a VIP performance at the Laugh Factory. As they went upstairs, Carrie could not wait to get out of the restaurant for the first time in a while. When the red team walked past the blue team, Paul mockingly called Elise Lady Gaga for her elaborate hair piece. During the reward, the red team saw Kira Soltanovich perform, who cracked jokes about Elise’s head feather, even asking if the latter got hit in the head by a bird. Both Jennifer and Elizabeth felt relaxed to be outside the kitchen for the change, and Soltanovich did a set about her birth, and wished Ramsay to call her baby raw in the delivery room. Punishment The blue team was punished by cleaning and prepping both kitchens for that night’s service and clean up the dorms. Before heading back to the dorms, Ramsay warned Jonathon that he was disappearing, but the latter argued that he was still there. During the punishment, Jonathon complained about a neck problem, with Sous Chef Scott telling him to leave the heavy lifting to his teammates, but Paul found it to convenient for that to happen. Jonathon went back to the patio to self-care himself as he had children to look out for. Later, Sous Chef Scott gave the blue team a list of what needed to be cleaned in the dorms and handed Tommy some toothbrushes for cleaning the toilets due to his poor leadership in the challenge. Will was disgusted to touch the red team’s garbage, and he and Paul realized that Jonathon was still at the patio. Before service The blue team were beginning prep for service, but Will noticed that Jonathon was still not around, annoying them all. When the red team came back from their reward, they found brand new Demeyere cookware for each of them. With service not far off, the blue team was still without Jonathon, with Natalie starting to doubt the former’s dedication, Will was pissed that Jonathon was slowing down due to a bad neck, and a ticked Paul just wanted to have four blue chefs at that point. At 5:03 pm, Jonathon finally came downstairs, but was met with a cold reception by his teammates, even though he still complained about a neck injury. Meanwhile, the red team was finishing off their prep as Elise wanted to win that night. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen. Dinner Service The U.S. Coast Guards were seen dining that night, and when the red team received their first ticket, Ramsay warned them to show the Coast Guards some respect. While Jamie felt that the red team had some exceptional cooks, Carrie struggled on the pizzas as she had a hard time rolling out the dough, leaving Ramsay wondering what her problem was with pizzas. After Elizabeth called Carrie frazzled, Ramsay saw that the latter over rolled the dough into a pair of knickers. In the blue team, Ramsay ordered Jonathon to wake up after the latter gave a halfhearted confirmation, and while Jonathon wanted not to look like a bitch despite his neck problems, Ramsay caught him putting in too much pasta needed. After Ramsay lectured him to cook in separate baskets for an even cook, Natalie was frustrated in Jonathon’s lack of contribution. In the red kitchen, Carrie was forced to restart her risotto due to burning the garlic, frustrating Ramsay as she performed on that station multiple times, forcing Jamie to take the full lead on appetizers, which led to the red team pushing out food. One hour into dinner service, the Coast Guards from the blue table have yet to receive their order, and not only were Natalie’s clams unseasoned, but Jonathon’s capellini was overcooked. Now forced to start over, Natalie discovered that Jonathon did not put anymore pasta into the pot, and as the two continued to struggle, a dismayed Will accused them of floundering the blue team. Then, Jonathon’s refire tasted horrible, with Ramsay commenting that even canned pasta tasted better than that and reminded them that it was for the Coast Guard table, before ordering Paul to help Jonathon and Natalie out. Despite Paul trying to get Jonathon and Natalie to talk more, the former was still slow, leading Ramsay to pull him aside to the back-pantry room. While Jonathon explained about his neck problem and lack of mobility, Ramsay told him about Season 6’s Dave, who won that season despite breaking his left arm, and threatened to kick Jonathon out if he had given up. While Jonathon refused to quit, Ramsay ordered him to fight back and stop sending him shit food. Back in the kitchen, Jonathon’s third attempt was accepted, and their Coast Guard table was finally sent out. In the red kitchen, the red team were now onto entrées, and much to Jennifer’s shock, they were communicating well despite hating each other, with Jamie comparing themselves to a symphony. In the blue kitchen, the blue team were speaking over each other on orders and communication, with a frustrated Ramsay calling them a noise. Then, Natalie nearly tripped over Tommy’s open oven door, and was pissed when he laughed about it, leading Ramsay to reprimand the latter on that. In the red kitchen, Elise was getting flooded with meat orders, compared to Jennifer who only had to fire one fish entrée so far, and despite the former’s concern of going down, she was going strong despite her slow movement to the pass. Two hours into dinner service, the blue team were still on appetizers, and a pissed Ramsay told them that while they had eleven tickets to go, the red team had only three left. That left Will embarrassed as he felt they were better than the red team, while Tommy received help from Jonathon and Natalie on the meat. Thing soon got worse as neither of them knew what the temperatures were, with Paul once again calling out Tommy for not communicating, and after sending up the wrong meat, Ramsay berated Tommy for making him stupid in both the challenge and service and accused him of giving up. In the red kitchen, the red team finished up their last table of entrées, with Elise crediting herself on the victory, while the blue team frantically sent up their last few remaining dishes, although Ramsay had a headache from what he saw that night. Post-mortem When both teams were lined up, Ramsay named the red team the clear winners for having a smoother service and praised Elise for her strong performance. After, Ramsay accused the blue team of moving backwards before asking them to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Will complained that after eight dinner services, the blue team has yet to have a decent one, before immediately considering Jonathon for not helping on both the punishment and prep. Tommy considered Natalie and Jonathon for the poor start on appetizers, but Natalie argued that Jonathon did not help her at all that night, and blamed him for the capellini refires. However, Jonathon accused Natalie of pushing the blame on him, before considering her and Tommy for elimination, but while the latter argued that his only mistake was the cold steaks, Natalie and Jonathon reminded him for the lack of communication again. When Tommy pointed out how he was usurped from his station, Paul remarked that he should have said something and own the station. Elimination Paul announced Jonathon as the blue team’s first nominee for elimination, and Natalie as their second. During their pleas, Jonathon said that he was not a quitter, and while he was not 100%, he still supported his team despite making mistakes in the past. When Ramsay asked him if he was over his head, Jonathon denied that. Then, Ramsay reminded Natalie of how she crumbled over a single mistake, but she felt that she needed to babysit Jonathon, which he denied. When Ramsay pointed out that the appetizer station could be done with one person, Natalie promised to step up more as a leader, while admitting to lacking fightback that night. In the end, Jonathon was eliminated for his poor performance on appetizers, and being nominated three times in a row. During his exit interview, Jonathon was disappointed in the decision, and predicted that Natalie did not have much time left. After Jonathon left, Ramsay warned Natalie that she had one more shot, and that she had to make the most of it, while continuing to praise Elise. While being dismissed, Jennifer feared that Elise’s attitude would be magnified after that night, Natalie was going to focus on herself, and Elise continued to boast that she led the red team to victory. Ramsay's comment: "The only thing worse than the pain in Jonathon's neck was listening to him blame everyone else for all his mistakes. I was glad to put him out of his misery." Category:Episodes Category:Season 9